Gold (currency) (Civ5)
Introduction Ah, Gold! Gold is wonderful stuff. You can use it to build an army, to pay for a road network, to purchase buildings, to buy the friendship of a city-state and to bribe an enemy civilization. It may be true that "money can't buy you love," but it can purchase a nuclear submarine armed with nuclear missiles, and that's not bad. Gold, the Currency (not to be confused with the Gold, the resource) is the standard money unit in the game, and as such serves a number of purposes, mostly related to trade. Unlike the real world, where Currency has become the preferred representation of everything, however, in the game Gold has sharply defined functions and isn't nearly as ubiquitous as in real life. Earning Gold Gold is earned in variety of ways, and added to your Imperial treasury (after deducing current expenses): Terrain The Land is the main source of Gold, and for some time - the only source of it. Work the tiles around your cities which have Gold potential to earn it. Note that Gold potential isn't found on the most common terrain types! *'These tiles' provide gold when your citizens work them (no longer true in BNW, only certain Natural Wonders and Oasises do): **Coast Tiles **Ocean Tiles **River Tiles (regardless of terrain type, all tiles bordering a River) **Natural Wonders (many, but not all, see Natural Wonders for a list) **Oasis **Atoll *'Resources': All Luxury resources provide Gold when worked - most of them 2 Gold, some 1 Gold. The Gold and Silver resources, on the other hand, provide more Gold if worked. *'Improvements': The Trading Post improvement adds +1 Gold (+2 with Economics) to any tile. Also, the Plantation improvement provides +1 Gold, which comes in addition to the bonus already provided by the Luxury on which it's built. Finally, the Camp provides +1 Gold with Economics, and the sea improvement, Fishing Boats give you +1 Gold after Compass is researched. Note: In Brave New World, the terrains containing innate Gold potential have been largely removed! Of the above list, Coast and Ocean tiles, as well as River, Lake and Atoll tiles DO NOT have Gold potential anymore! This makes producing Gold from the land much more difficult, especially in the beginning of the game, and turns International trading a crucial aspect of your Empire's Gold production. Buildings Next, there are a number of Gold-boosting buildings you can built in your cities. Note that most don't add Gold production, they simply boost existing production. The buildings are: Market, Bank and Stock Exchange. The Mint also adds +2 Gold to any source of Gold or Silver on the city's territory. Trade routes Trade routes are another way to earn Gold. These are especially effective in doing so. Consider making trade routes when possible. *'Trade routes' ("City Connections" in Brave New World). You can establish routes for domestic trade between your cities and your Capital. This is done automatically upon connecting a city with the Capital, either via a Road, or via a Harbor. Trade routes net some Gold each turn - the bigger the cities that trade, the more Gold is earned. *'International trading'. In Brave New World, you can also establish trade routes with other civilizations and city-states to earn Gold. Note: Trade routes may be blockaded by enemy forces! In that case, Gold production from trading stops until you manage to drive away the enemy. Also in Brave New World, plundering an Trade Route destroys it altogether, along with the trade unit that was servicing it. Wealth conversion After researching Guilds, your cities gain the ability to convert Production into Gold. This effectively produces Gold for your empire, adding to the flow each turn according to the Production potential of the city in question. Additional sources And here are some additional sources of Gold: *'Wonders': Some Wonders provide or increase a city's output of gold. For example, Machu Picchu and the Colossus. Also, if you're constructing a Wonder and another civ finishes it before you do, you get a gold bonus (the size of the bonus depends upon how much progress you've made on the Wonder). *'Barbarian Encampment': You'll earn gold each time you disperse a Barbarian Encampment. *'Ancient Ruins': An ancient ruin may provide gold when it is explored. *'City-States': A city-state will give you a little amount of gold when you first meet (the amount is doubled if you're the first civilization to meet it). *'Requesting Tribute': In Gods and Kings, you may also demand tribute from city-states for some gold. This, however, has consequences, so consider it carefully! *'Pillaging Enemy Improvements': Pillaging improvements in emeny territory will give you a modest amount of gold. The biggest loot comes from Trading posts. *'Capturing Cities': You may gain a bunch of gold when you capture a city (city-state or civilization's possession). *'Gold Trading': You may gain gold - lump sum or an amount each turn for 30 turns - during negotiations with another civ. *'Performing a Trade Mission': A Great Merchant can perform a "trade mission" in a city-state. The Merchant is expended and you get lots of gold. *'Adopting all social policies in the Honor tree' will grant gold for each enemy unit killed. Also, the Commerce policy tree considerably enhances your empire's Gold production. Check it out for more info. Finally, during a Golden Age, all land produces +1 extra Gold. Make sure to use this limited time bonus by working all Gold tiles during a Golden Age! This becomes incredibly important in Brave New World, where there are a limited number of tiles producing Gold, which means you could easily squander a major benefit of a Golden Age if you aren't aware. Spending Gold There are some costs to running an empire - they are called Maintenance. Each turn the added Maintenance fees are automatically deducted from your total Gold flow, to maintain your buildings, feed and cloth your armies and civilian units, etc. The extra Gold which is left goes directly into your Treasury, ready to be used as you see fit. Here is an exact list of the ways you can spend the Gold in your Treasury: *'Unit and Building Maintenance': Units and buildings both have "maintenance costs" that must be paid every turn. See the individual entries on the units and buildings for specific amounts. Also note that these maintenance costs are dependent upon the difficulty level at which you're playing. *'Road/Railroad Maintenance': You spend gold for each road tile you construct. If you absorb another civ's roads into your territory, you pay for their maintenance as well. *'Purchasing Land': You can extend your civilization's territory by purchasing individual tiles around your cities. Go to a City Screen, then click on "Buy a Tile". The map will display all tiles available for purchase. Click on the tile to expend the requisite gold and purchase the tile. Note that you can buy tiles only three tiles away from any given city. *'Buying Units or Buildings': You can spend gold to instantly purchase units or buildings in a city. Click on an item (if you can afford it!) and it will be immediately constructed in the city, and the amount of Gold is deducted from your treasury. *'Buying Influence with City-States': If you want to improve your relationship with a city-state, one way to do so is to gift it some Gold. Increasing amounts of Gold may be given for larger boosts to friendship. *'Upgrading Obsolete Units': Over time, you'll learn new technologies that will allow you to create better military units than those you previously could. When this occurs, you'll have the option to "upgrade" the older units, turning them into the newer, more powerful models (For example, once you learn Iron Working, you can upgrade any Warrior unit you possess into Swordsman). Each upgrade costs some Gold - the more powerful the upgrade, the more expensive it will be. Diplomacy and Gold You can exchange gold with other civilizations for any number of reasons - trading it for resources, for example, to get the other civ to make peace with you, or to bribe the civ to attack a third. Gold is extremely useful in negotiations. There are two different ways to exchange Gold: *Flat Fee: A "Flat Fee" exchange is just that. You give or receive a one-time lump sum of gold, and then you're done. In Brave New World, flat fees, however, require a declaration of friendship. *Per Turn: You can also negotiate an exchange that occurs over a number of turns (usually 30). For example, you might agree to pay the other civ 5 gold per turn for 30 turns. These agreements are rendered null and void if the two civilizations go to war. Getting Plundered If the fiendish barbarians successfully attack one of your cities, they "plunder" some of your gold, but you keep the city. If a civilization or city-state captures one of your cities, they take some of your gold, along with the city. Running out of Gold When your net Gold flow is negative, your treasury will eventually reach zero and you will start running a negative budget. The first bad effect of this is that the difference is deducted from your Science (as many SP points as negative Gold), and the second is that eventually units will start do disband on their own. Beware! This can seriously slow down your acquisition of new technology, which can leave you extremely vulnerable to attack by more advanced neighbors. Get your budget in order as quickly as possible! Strategy In the early game you have to pay attention to not running out of gold, because it reduces your empire's Science output. Do not worry about making a lot of extra gold while you are developing your empire for growth. Connect cities to your capital as soon as possible for extra gold. In the mid and late game you should start setting up your trade routes and earning some money. Prioritize buildings that improve trade route gold in cities that have the most efficient trade routes in the trade route overview. You should save your gold to buy science buildings as soon as you research the appropriate technology to boost your Science output faster (eg. Scientific Theory for Public school). Research agreements are also a very good investment. If you have threatening neighbours, pay them to go to war with other civilizations - they will leave you alone in the meantime. Gold is the most important when going for a diplomatic victory, because it's essential for buying City-state votes. In a Science victory, use it to purchase Science buildings and you can also buy Spaceship parts with the Freedom Ideology. Upgrade and purchase units when going for a Domination victory. It contributes very little in a Cultural victory, but all uses apply here as well. Trade your resources to the AI for a steady gold profit. Use this table to determine how much gold resources are worth. It presumes that you have a Declaration of Friendship. Category:Civilization V Category:Game concepts (Civ5)